Outsmarting Birds and other Vineyard Predators

August 15, 2011 | By | 2 Replies More

The grapes at DuCard Vineyards are starting to ripen nicely, which means that pretty much every creature that walks, flies or crawls is out to feast on them.

DuCard Vineyards in mid-August. The Cab Franc grapes are looking beautiful. Should be another great vintage for DuCard

There’s an old saying that goes something like this: when the deer begin eating the grapes, the Brix (a measure of the sugar level) is 20, when the birds begin feeding, it’s 22, and when the bees go after grapes, it’s time to harvest.  (If anyone has a more accurate take on that little bit of country wisdom, please post a comment!)

That aphorism probably ascribes a level of precision to nature that can’t be verified with scientific instruments, but it does give you an idea of what the grape farmer is up against.  After a growing season in which the vines are threatened by any one of a dozen pests or diseases, not to mention the vagaries of weather, Mother Nature presents a whole new set of challenges just as the grapes are reaching perfection.

Vineyard balloons: If you're a bird thirsting for Viognier, it doesn't get any scarier than this.

Saturday’s vineyard management class at DuCard focused on a number of these problems, and some of the tried and true solutions that have been used by viticulturists for years.  Some are high tech, like the box that transmits sounds of birds in distress throughout the vineyard, and others are decidedly low-tech: balloons and CDs hanging from trellises in spots where they’ll catch a bit of sunlight.  All three seem to work pretty well.

Birds apparently have some early warning systems.  They understand the vineyard is supposed to look a certain way, and when they see something out of the ordinary, they look for safer pastures, so to speak.  The CDs catch a glint of sunlight, and are visible to the birds as they approach, sending off the signal

Any old song will do: Not sure if it matters which CDs we hang from the vines, they all seem to scare the birds.

that something is not quite right here, so move on, and be quick about it.  The balloons accomplish the same thing.  In other vineyards, I’ve seen foil streamers flying in the breeze, which has the same effect.

And the deer will be coming soon as well. DuCard is located in the midst of open country, some of the most beautiful country you’ll ever see, and so it’s home to more deer than any of us can count.  The electric fence is going up this week, and between the fence, the balloons and the CDs, Scott thinks he has “about a 95 percent solution,” which I think is a nice compromise with nature.

While walking through the vineyard Saturday, I tasted a few Cab Franc and Viognier grapes, and was impressed by the sweetness.  We’re getting toward the end of the period of veraison, the time in which the berries stop growing in size and begin ripening, turning color in the process.  The Cab Franc gapes, for example, were about 80 percent there (by my own seat-of-the-pants measurement), with most of the grapes blue-black in color, and only a few still greenish. They’re looking magnificent, and the growing sugar level was evident on my tongue when I tasted the grapes.

As we move toward harvest, the sugar will continue to increase and acidity will drop.  The seeds inside the grape will turn color from their current green to more of a brown, and will lose their bitterness.  Soon, Scott Elliff, DuCard’s owner, and Julien Durantie, his vineyard manager, will begin testing the grapes regularly, taking advantage of both technology (checking the Brix with a refractometer), and the knowledge that comes from years of working in vineyards (looking at the seeds, chewing the skin to get an idea of the tannins, etc.)

The day of the harvest can’t be predicted this far in advance, and of course each of the four varieties of grapes Scott grows will ripen at different times.  But at some point for each, everything will come together, and Scott will make the judgment that it’s time to get the grapes off the vine and onto the crush pad.

And then we can start dreaming about the wine.

 

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Category: All Posts, Virginia Wineries, Viticulture

Comments (2)

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  1. Frank says:

    This is the way I’ve heard the saying too, ‘”when the deer begin eating the grapes, the Brix is 20, when the birds begin feeding, it’s 22, and when the bees go after grapes, it’s time to harvest.” I have a mild (well, severe) case of melissophobia so I tend to avoid those higher brix times in the vineyard. 🙂 Although, I keep saying I’m going to work a harvest at some point. I’ve harvested grapes for 4 hours one day a two summers ago in California with Matthiasson, and that was about all I could take. Look forward to your harvest reports. Cheers!

    • Bob says:

      Thanks for the comment, Frank – I am looking forward to working my first harvest, but I’ll be watching closely for bees. 🙂
      So what’s the deal with the Pinot smackdown? If it involves Pinot, it has to be good, right?
      BTW, I saw your post on Twitter about Virginia Pinot – we’re hoping to visit Ankida Ridge tomorrow. Really looking forward to it!
      allbest,
      Bob

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